Letting Go
by thedeadlymino
Summary: The Courier intercepts a mysterious broadcast that seems to be an invitation to "begin again" at the Sierra Madre. Expecting nothing more than a chance to loot, he finds his life tied to three others and given a task for the "heist of the century". Dead Money novelization.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

"That building on the ridge over there, the Sierra Madre Casino, you are going to help me break inside. This is…a heist."

"And if I refuse?"

"You and the people you must cooperate with are all fitted with security collars. Should you decide to try and leave, get greedy and take whatever fortune lies inside, or kill one another, the collar goes off, and I find someone else to do this job. I should also mention all the collars are linked. One of you dies, you all die."

"Looks like I don't have a choice."

"Oh but you did, I didn't force you to come here, that was of your own accord."

Instantly, the Courier regretted his decision to investigate the mysterious broadcast for the grand opening of the Sierra Madre.

In the year 2077, a war began. Not a war fought with men, but with fire, the fire of the atomic bomb. It was not a war of years, months, or even days, but mere hours. Man had destroyed hundreds of thousands of years of progress in less than a day. However, the human element was not destroyed. No, humanity remained, rebuilt, and in some places, even prospered.

200 years later, a man known only as the Courier, would become part of something much larger than he could imagine. All of it began with a broadcast.

"Has your life taken a turn? Do troubles beset you? Has fortune left you behind? If so, the Sierra Madre Casino, in all its glory, is inviting you to begin again."

The Courier was intrigued by the broadcast, as such a place had never been mentioned in all his life. He followed the source of the broadcast to an abandoned bunker. He had no reservations about opening the rusted hatch and climbing in, unknowing of what awaited.

The inside of the bunker would have been described by the people of our time as savage and gruesome, but the sight was nothing new to the Courier. In the ruins of a nation, its survivors have no intent of following its long dead laws, because their only instinct is to do just that. Survive. As the Courier moved past the vandalized and bloodied walls of the bunker, he came to a long hallway with a bright room at the end. On a small table sat a radio reciting the broadcast the Courier had heard earlier that morning. As he entered the room, he was disappointed to find that the radio and table were all that was to be found. After starting on his way out, the large iron door slammed shut in front of him and locked. Gas started pouring out from vents in the ceiling. His vision blurred, he could hardly breathe, for the second time, the Courier was experiencing death.

As the Courier awoke, all he saw were the dirty, destroyed buildings of a once-beautiful villa. He was standing next to a fountain. This wouldn't have been a peculiar sight in the wasteland, as destroyed buildings littered the entire nation. The oddity about this fountain was that it contained the old world technology of a hologram. The holographic woman stood atop the fountain, spoke, and motioned toward the huge grandiose building on the top of a cliff off to the north. The Courier recognized the woman's voice as the speaker in the broadcast.

A tile rose from the corner of the fountain and began to project the face of an old man. He had cold eyes and a sense of assertive urgency.

"Are you listening? Good, when I talk, listen."

"What's this around my-"

"I said listen!"

After explaining to the Courier about the collars, and the heist, the Courier (having accepted his fate) had but one question.

"Who are you?"

"An unimportant question, but I am Father Elijah, former elder of the Brotherhood of Steel. Now go, find the others, and then report back here and I will give you further instructions."


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

"Oh, and one last thing, there is a holorifle under a loose panel in the fountain." said Elijah.

"Thanks, but I'm not really into energy we-"

"Would you rather travel through these streets unarmed? You are expendable. Many have come for the Madre's riches, and many more will come. Now gather the others and return to the fountain!"

The Courier began his search for the others, referencing the notes on his Pip-Boy. Each person had been given a sort of profile. They read:

Collar 14: Dean Domino, Residential District

Collar 12: Christine Royce, Medical District

Collar 8: Dog, Police Station

The Courier was curious as to what Dog was. Many raiders in the Mojave had nicknames, but he was willing to bet that Dog was no ordinary person. The Courier decided to start by finding Dog, which meant he should be headed in the direction of the police station. He set a marker on his Pip-Boy map and set off.

The Courier moved fast through the streets of the villa, searching every corner, box, shelf, and container on the way for supplies. In one corner, he found a lone briefcase with a white handprint on the wall. Inside he found a .357 revolver with about 25 rounds, which he tucked into a pocket.

"Now that's a gun." the Courier thought to himself.

As the Courier moved forth, he heard a sound unlike he had ever heard, a kind of choked muttering. He instinctively retreated into one of the recessions in the wall and drew his pistol. The sound became louder. He heard light footsteps shambling towards him. He leaned over the wall and no more than 3 feet in front of him was a hazmat suit with glowing green eyes emitting that same noise that he had heard. Except now, it became more of a strangled scream, like it was going to attack. Wasting no time, the Courier shot into the suit, hitting it right where its heart should be. The suit fell to the floor without a sound. The Courier did not understand how something like this could move and speak with no one inside. As he backed away and continued to the police station, he heard the hissing of gas. The same hissing he had heard in the room with the radio on the table.

He swung around to see the suit standing back up, like a balloon being inflated. The Courier could not believe that this… thing had just resurrected. It had cheated death, much like the Courier had. He smirked at this thought as he aimed for its head and pulled the trigger. The revolver kicked back in the Courier's hands and launched a .357 magnum round straight into the creature's face. The helmet of the suit crippled inward while gas and yellow matter ejected itself from the newly formed aperture. The entire suit collapsed on the ground as if it was a marionette whose strings had been severed.

Upon the arrival at the police station, the Courier found a skeleton leaning against a wall, a revolver in its hand, and several rounds of ammunition scattered about. The skeleton was veiled in a thick red gas, as was the alley it rested in. Believing it to be just a haze, the Courier walked up to the skeleton and began collecting the rounds on the ground. The Courier's eyes began to water, his lungs burned. He gathered his remaining strength to stumble back out of this mysterious cloud into the courtyard of the police station. He opened the door and the one thing that instantly caught his eye was behind the bars of the holding cell. A Nightkin sat holding its legs, oblivious to the outside world. The Courier could make out the word "Dog" carved into its chest, a bear trap on his arm, and various other scars on its body.

"Uh… Dog? We need to get to the fountain."

Dog didn't move a muscle.

After several more attempts at communication, the Courier gave up and went to loot the remainder of the police station. The basement was the first place the Courier searched, but not without a constant nuisance. There was a speaker at the end of the hallway. Its light shone bright red. The Courier's collar began to emit a high pitched beeping. Elijah began speaking through the collar.

"I see that there is a disturbance in your collar's frequency. Move away from any speakers or radios you find."

The Courier did as he was told and the beeping stopped.

"You see, time took its toll on the electronics here, except for those inside the Sierra Madre itself."

"Get to the point Elijah." said the Courier, rushing the elder.

"It's my choice to help you, so you best accept it. The speakers and radios have decayed to the point where their frequencies will disrupt those of the collars. The speakers with blue lights indicate a system failure. These will be easy to destroy, as anything shot or thrown at them will easily puncture the speaker cone. A red light indicates that the speaker is working fine, these are near impossible to destroy, and are best left to disabling through power shutoff."

"You mentioned radios?"

"Yes those are much simpler to deal with. Just turn them off in time."

"In time? What happens when time runs-"

The Courier's question was cut short. He could only stare at that taunting red light at the end of the hallway. He recollected Elijah explaining about the explosives in the collar. There was only one thing that could happen when time ran out. The Courier decided to run past the speaker anyway. He engaged a full sprint forward, gaining speed as fast as his collar's beeping. He could see the armory on the right side of the hallway. He had probably ten feet left to run. The Courier could only hope that the last noise he ever heard wouldn't be that beeping.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Author's Note:**_

_Sorry guys, I've been really busy with school and stuff. Sorry this took so long to get out. Also, this is not the best chapter in my opinion, I've been out of my writing "swing" recently. I may rewrite this later depending on the reviews it receives._

_10/29 Holy crap it's been almost a month since my last update but holy crap have I been busy. I made a Joshua Graham costume for Halloween so that took some time. School has also been a fierce competitor for my time. I love writing this and work hard, but sometimes I just don't have time to. Hopefully you enjoy my story! _

**CHAPTER 3**

The Courier shot through the hallway and was only pressured to run faster by the increasingly fast beeping of his collar. The door to the armory was only a few feet away now. The Courier dove into the doorway as his collar dismissively stopped beeping.

The Courier lay on the floor, exhaling slowly. He was thankful that he was not just another one of Elijah's casualties. He slowly picked himself up off of the floor and looked around the room. A rifle sat against the inside of an open locker. It had a long barrel and a sturdy metal receiver. The Courier could make out the head of a deer and the word "Browning" engraved into the frame. He picked it up and checked the bolt to make sure it wasn't too rusted to fire. The gun seemed to be in working order, with no serious damage, so he slung it over his shoulder and began searching for ammunition. The Courier estimated that the weapon used .308 rounds, as these were in boxes on the shelves next to the locker. He unloaded about 3 of these boxes, each with about 30 rounds inside, and stuffed them into the various pockets on his jumpsuit.

In a locker next to the one the Courier had found the rifle in hung a set of armor. The Courier found that the armor was made of Kevlar, and had a sturdy helmet. He read the word "Security" on the back. The Courier decided to utilize this blessing, as his jumpsuit offered little to no protection. On his way out of the armory, a holotape laid on a table with the words "Back in the cage" written on it in black marker.

After the Courier looted the armory and backtracked through the speaker's deathtrap, he tried once more to confront Dog.

"Hey, listen up; I need you to go to the fountain. You and two others are supposed to meet there, and I'm supposed to bring you."

There was no response from the Nightkin.

The Courier replayed the audio message he had found on the table, hoping it would offer some clues as to what was going on.

_Dog. Back in the cage._

The mutant slowly stood up and walked over to the bars.

"Human."

"Are you Dog?

The mutant seemed to resent that word.

"No. My name is God."

"Well, we need to get to the fountain, or Elijah is-"

"The old man," God interrupted.

"He is the reason Dog is hungry. Dog lives only to serve his master. His master is the old man."

"The master needs us at the fountain." The Courier said imperatively.

God chuckled at this.

"Do you not see where I am? I am surrounded by bars. A cage that confines myself and Dog."

God glared at the bear trap on his arm.

"I only want him to be safe. He tries to force me out of his head with pain. Pain is solution he knows."

"I don't think you would've locked yourself in there if you didn't know how to get out."

"Clever, for a human. There is a key in the bottom left drawer of the desk. Here is a pin, I believe it may be of use to you."

The Courier inserted the bobby pin into the lock and tilted left and right until he heard a faint click. He opened the drawer and inside laid a keycard that, per God's instructions, could only open the cell.

The Courier walked back over to God and slid the card through the reader. The lock beeped, flashed green, and the door opened.

"Naïve, like the rest of your race. Dog obeys. I do not. I am staying here to protect him regardless if that door is open."

"Then maybe Dog will follow orders better."

God glared at the Courier with eyes aflame with rage. He clenched his fists tightly, enlarging the veins on his arms.

"Human, if you let Dog out, I will pull you apart and leave your half-conscious bleeding corpse for the ghosts to have."

The Courier grinned.

"Then it looks like you're coming with me."

The Courier and God stepped out of the Police station and into the villa, back into the horrid red air reeking of poison.

The Courier instantly noted that ominous noise he had heard right before his encounter with the gas creature. He readied his rifle and turned left and right searching for the noise's source. As he swept the area, he saw a green glow reflecting in a broken window in front of him.

The Courier was tackled by the creature and it began that awful choked screaming. It raised the spear in its hand and began to bring it down in a direct path for the Courier's skull. He raised his hands and closed his eyes, waiting for the end.

The crunch that followed was not the Courier's demise. In fact, he opened his eyes to a battered pale-blue hand that had torn _through _the creature's helmet. It stood there in shocked unconsciousness as the hand pulled back out and yellow liquid and gas sprayed out of the breach in its helmet. The creature dropped to its knees and then the ground. The Courier composed himself and jumped up to see the newly rescued Nightkin _decimating _the remaining hostiles.

The Courier saw the look in the mutant's eyes. It was not the look of God's pained and bruised soul, it was a look of hatred and hunger. He had just met Dog.

Dog tore through the remaining "ghosts", as God had called them, with ease. They tried to fight back but their spears were no match for the powerhouse named "Dog". Dog grabbed one ghost by the legs and swung it into the other, crushing its helmet under his foot afterwards.

The last ghost swung his spear and caught Dog in the arm. Dog growled as blood dripped from his arm. This didn't hurt Dog, it infuriated him. He locked his hands around each arm of the ghost, which dropped its spear to the ground, and kicked into its chest with all his might. The arms tore from its body, which shot backwards and slammed into a wall. Gas hissed out of the arm sockets and the suit crumpled into a puddle of its own "blood".

Still holding the arms of the creature, Dog took a triumphant bite out of the one. Suddenly, Dog stopped, turned and noticed the Courier, who had been standing in awe of the entire scene. He began to hobble towards the Courier, with childlike fascination.

"Master?" Dog questioned.

"No, not master. Dog not see master. Only hear." Dog said, correcting himself.

"Master wants you to go to the fountain, Dog."

"But voices tell Dog to disobey master,"

Dog's tone changed.

"Voice tell Dog that master bad. Dog hate the voice."

The Courier could feel Dog becoming angry once more, so he pulled up an audio file on his Pip-Boy, and hit play.

_Dog. Back in the cage._

Dog's demeanor instantly changed back to that familiar one belonging to God. God stared at the blood on his hands, and clenched his fists. The Courier could feel the animosity God felt towards Dog at that moment.

"Human, we should get to the fountain."

After God and the Courier had returned to the fountain, the panel lifted once again and Elijah's face was projected above it.

"Ah, I see you've rallied the FEV reject."

God glared at the head of the old man, most likely imagining a hundred different ways to tear it off.

"Who should I find next?" Asked the Courier.

Elijah smiled.

"I believe you've heard of Mr. Domino."


	4. Chapter 4

"_I really need to stop putting these notes up here, but I want to apologize again for the infrequent updates. Busy as usual. Just uploading a short chapter here. More VERY SOON!"_

**CHAPTER 4**

"Where am I supposed to find him?" asked the Courier.

"Dean can be located in the residential district of the villa. Probably hiding on the roofs somewhere away from the ghost people." said Elijah.

"It would have been helpful to mention those earlier. I almost died by the hand of one."

Elijah chuckled.

"Now, now. We can't go making things too easy for you now can we? Besides, I see you have some guns. Were they not of use to you in your encounters with the ghosts?"

"I'm a good shot but I can't kill every ghost that looks in my direction."

"Then you'll have some fun at the Gala Event."

"The-"

"No time to waste now. Bring Mr. Domino to the fountain. Ms. Royce after that, and we may begin our little…heist."

With that closing statement the hologram shut off and the panel receded back into the fountain. The Courier could only work off of the instructions he had already been given.

He looked down at the Pip-Boy on his wrist. A blinking arrow pointed to a two-story building on the western side of the Residential District. The Courier skulked around corners checking for any signs of the ghost people mentioned by both Elijah and God. Rounding one corner he found another suitcase with a white handprint slapped onto the wall above it. Inside, the Courier found more .357 magnum rounds and a few .308's, all of which nested comfortably in pockets on the vest. He now had about three full magazines for his automatic rifle, and enough ammo for around five full revolver cylinders.

The Courier walked up the stairs to the second level of a building, thinking that the roofs would yield a safer passage than the ground and alleys. The Courier walked in the door and heard a vicious clank coupled with a splitting pain in his lower leg. He looked down to see that a bear trap had closed around his ankle, and blood was now caking its teeth. His vision blurred but he forced himself to limp to the bed on the other side. He blindly tore the trap off of his leg, and the blanket off of the bed. He wrapped it around the bloodied mess of ankle and passed out on the floor.

The Courier awoke to the all too familiar sound of the ghost people.

"Not now…"

The Courier looked down at his ankle. The blood had stopped flowing, and the blanket had absorbed all it could. He unwrapped the blanket from his ankle, and the sulfurous air stung his open wound. He heard the sound of the ghosts coming closer, and it sounded like a group.

The Courier pulled the automatic rifle off of his back in preparation for the impending battle. He crawled under the bed he had passed out next to, and set up the rifle on its bipod, barrel pointed at the door. The sounds stopped, and the Courier slowed his breathing to listen for any sign of the threat. He sighed slowly, relieved that the threat had dissipated.

The Courier had not taken the windows into account however and three ghosts burst through the window with that awful scream. They had caught him off guard but his quick trigger finger, developed from many wasteland scuffles, depressed the trigger.

The gun didn't fire.

The bolt was moving but the rounds weren't loading into the chamber. The Courier wasted no time assessing the situation, and readied the revolver. He cocked back the hammer, and aimed for the head. The magnum kicked back and a puff of dust came from the other side of the room. He had missed and hit the wall. The ghosts were closing in and the Courier had to make a move.

The Courier saw his way out alive. The bear trap.

He acted fast and kicked the bear trap under a ghost. The trap slid under its ankle and clamped shut, gas and yellow liquid spraying all over. The Courier lined up a shot and fired. The round fired straight through the ghost's head, its body collapsing on the ground.

The Courier did not have time to reset the trap, and the ghosts were closer still. Going out on a whim, the Courier slid a full speedloader for the revolver out under the ghosts, aimed, and fired. The round raced out of the barrel with a pinpoint accuracy on the speedloader. The fired and stationary rounds collided and the speedloader released its ammunition like a bomb. The rounds hit both ghosts, puncturing their suits in several places, who dropped almost simultaneously.

The Courier's eyes were wide with shock. He was shocked that he was alive, yet even more astonished that his plan had succeeded. This feeling didn't last long, as he still needed to tend to his ankle. The Courier struggled to get up, and limped back down the stairs and out of the building that had almost been the death of him. Down an alley he spotted what looked like a vending machine and decided to see if it had any medical supplies to aid in his ankle's healing.

The Courier painfully dragged his lame leg along with him as he hobbled all the way to the machine. He scrolled through the selection of items and a Stimpak caught his eye. He selected it and the machine buzzed in denial. The number 25 flashed next to the picture of the Stimpak. The machine displayed the phrase "More chips needed to purchase." The Courier cursed under his breath and shuffled off to find some chips.


End file.
